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Welcome to PSN’s spin center – that’s the
Presbyterian Sunday News – on the debate you just heard between Jesus from
down south in Hooterville and King Herod’s man, the Herodian. It took place
in the sacred temple that has strict rules of conduct. Of course, the
religious leaders were aghast at the way Jesus ran around the temple
yesterday – throwing over tables, letting chicken and pigs go loose, and
driving out the money changers. Boy,
they were mad enough to see Jesus crucified.
We here at PSN appreciated your
restraint during the debate from clapping, cheering, and saying inappropriate
“amens” in support of one or the other debaters. Your reputation preceded you
as the “Frozen Chosen.”
Everyone witnessed the adroit
opening by the Herodian feigning great respect for this country bumpkin
calling him, “teacher, sincere, teaching the way of God and Truth and the
Judean way of life.” I hope you didn’t
fall for that. It was a tricky, but a well-thought-out opening gambit set-up
for Jesus.
And what a trap they laid for him.
Instead of challenging Jesus to lower taxes, they asked him, “Is it lawful to
pay taxes to the emperor or not?” Wow! Completely unexpected. That was like asking Jesus “When did you
stop beating your wife?” Any way he answers makes him guilty.
Everyone knows this tax they were
talking about is a head tax. Every male between the ages of puberty and 65
who is not a Roman citizen and who could fight against the emperor has to pay
this tax. It is a token of submission to the emperor that says you admit to
being under the heel of Rome. You know who your master is. Every male Jew was
very, very bitter about this tax.
What was Jesus to do? If he said “pay it” all the Jews
would desert him and the Herodians would have pulled Jesus’ teeth. He would
no longer have a following. In fact, the Zealots would probably kill him. If
he said “don’t pay” he would be arrested and crucified for treason. They had
him no matter which way he answered.
But something totally unexpected
happened. Jesus said, “Show me the money!” Well one of the guys pulled out a
coin with the image of Caesar from his pocket and showed it to him. There was
a buzz in the crowd because it was against the temple rules to have an image
of any sort in the temple. The hypocrites trying to trap Jesus in blasphemy
were themselves guilty. Tsk, tsk, tsk. I was surprised that Jesus kept a
straight face, weren’t you? I thought I saw a little upturn at the corner of
his mouth though. I’m sure that will be playing on U-tube for many days.
“Whose image is on it?” Jesus
asked. Looking a little confused the Herodian replied, “The emperor’s”. Now
for the gotcha. “Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the
emperor’s and to God the things that are God’s.” Were you surprised how fast
the Herodians walked away? I was. No fight left in those lackeys of the king.
Debate over!
But what did this mean? I heard a spin meister on the other church
cable news program say, “It shows that Jesus believes in the separation of
church and state like we do in America.” Corn fritters, impossible. The Jews
have a theocracy where there was no division between religion and politics,
just like Iran. Church and state are never separated. The world was whole and
filled with the glory of God. Jesus is a Jew and this was his absolute
conviction.
The real question is “What belongs
to God?”
We need to break away for a word
from our sponsor. Stay tuned and come back for an analysis of the debate by
Pastor Ken of the Presbyterian Church in Huntsville.
Our sponsor is Pastor Ken’s
Wednesday evening Lectionary Class and brings you a “Humor R US” minute. This
was a story told by one of its more astute members.
“It is about a very wealthy man who desperately wanted to
figure out a way to take his money with him when he died. And so the man came
up with this plan. He gathered
together all of his money and put it in a box up in the attic of his house.
That way, he figured that when he died and started to rise up toward heaven,
he could grab hold of the box and take it along. Well, finally, one day that
man died. But when his wife went up into the attic afterwards, she found that
the box of money was still there. And so she said: ‘That fool, I told him
that he should have put it in the basement.’”
Welcome back to PSN’s analysis on
the great debate. I’m Pastor Ken. Our spin meister left you with the
question, “What belongs to God?” This whole tax issue makes little difference
until you decide what belongs to God. Answer that one and you have all your
other concerns answered at the same time.
Let me tell you a story about a
little girl who was walking to church one Sunday morning. Her mother had
given her two quarters and told her that one was for her to use any way she
wanted and the other for God and was to be placed in the offering plate at
Sunday School. Well, as she was walking down the sidewalk she started playing
with the quarters, tossing them up in the air and catching them. She missed
one of the quarters and it rolled into a sewer grate at the side of the road.
The little girl kneeled down at the grate looking inside and said so sadly,
“Well, there goes God’s quarter.”
Who has the final word – God or
government? Are they on equal levels? Remember the commercial about the
suitcase in the attic? The answer is “no,” of course they are not equal. But
do you really put your highest trust in God or in something else?
You know, Jesus taught more about
money than on any other issue: 62% of
his parables deal with money; 1 out of 10 verses in the 4 gospels deals with
money; over 4 times as many verses in the Bible deal with money over prayer.
Surprised? The average church member in the U.S. gives about 3% of his or her
money away to others. Americans spend more on lotteries than they give to
their church. “Where your treasure is, there is your heart also.”
The answer to the question, “What
belongs to God?” is “You”– you belong to God. You have been imprinted with
God’s image. The coin might belong to the emperor, but you belong to God. You
have been baptized and sealed with the Spirit of God and belong to God’s
kingdom now and forever. If you love God with all your heart, soul, and mind,
then you know your money and material possessions are just in your
safekeeping as stewards of God’s resources.
If you know this - believe it, and
live it. Everything else in your life will then fall into place. Yes, I know
that a lot of people and institutions get a piece of your money – the
government, the gas pump, the grocery store, the mortgage company, the
insurance companies, the children, and so on. Does God get the leftovers? Are
there any leftovers? You set your priorities on how you spend your money. If
you begin at the right place, you will end up at the right place. Where do
you start? You start with God. We are
called to give to God out of love and thanksgiving, not obligation.
God has called our church to do mighty
and awesome things in God’s name. It is time to get on with it.
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